What is a ‘policy hack’?
New ways of looking at our complex world can lead to policy hacks with clear and easily identifiable benefits. But do they stand apart from politically-driven reforms? Read More
Nicholas Gruen
Nicholas Gruen is CEO of Lateral Economics. He's an economist, a consultant, a commentator and a former adviser to the federal government.
Evaluation: moving beyond well-intentioned fads and towards a new professionalism
An evaluator-general should lead a renewed focus on understanding the impact of government programs, independent of their delivery and insulated from the demand for appropriate 'messaging' in other parts of the system. It could lead the way beyond bureaucratic fads to a new professionalism, writes Nicholas Gruen. Read More
‘Being evidence-based is really, really hard’: shifting evaluation culture
Too often evaluation is an afterthought and the report sits in a drawer. Two experts discuss how to shift attitudes to make evidence-based policymaking meaningful. Read More
Nicholas Gruen: hacking wellbeing for the biggest returns
There are some commonsense 'hacks' government could use to improve Australians' wellbeing, argues economist Nicholas Gruen. Read More
Nicholas Gruen: evaluation knowledge comes not from numbers, but questions
As policymakers look back for answers to what worked — like PM&C's $40m for evaluation of Indigenous programs — the pass/fail approach won't, in itself, help find the answers that government will need as circumstances change. Read More
Six of the best: Martin Hoffman’s frank guide to public service improvement
Dump the jargon, tell the brutal truth and get over change fatigue. Martin Hoffman's vision of a high performing public service is frank, gutsy and very human. Read More
Nicholas Gruen: against strategy
Not having enough time to talk strategy is a common gripe for organisations. Even when they do get the chance, it's often unproductive or ignored by employees. What's going on here? Read More
A tale of two juries: shaping Infrastructure Victoria’s 30-year strategy
Infrastructure Victoria's experience shows citizen juries can play a vital role in delivering major milestones. This lends weight to the idea of institutionalising deliberative democracy. Read More
Detoxing Democracy 3: bringing citizen deliberation into government administration
DETOXING DEMOCRACY: Citizen deliberation is a powerful tool for legitimisation, but can it become institutionalised? Just as Yarra Valley Water consulted its community in a way that encouraged their close deliberation on the issues, agencies could cultivate councils of people reflective of community makeup for ongoing capacity to reflect community deliberation. Read More
Detoxing Democracy 2: a mixed model of democracy for Australia
DETOXING DEMOCRACY: The first essay in this series explored the case for deliberative democracy. What could deliberative democracy look like at the political level? Nicholas Gruen proposes a People's Chamber. Read More
Artists’ scheme: a good idea at the time, till it dodged own appraisal
Not every policy will have the intended outcome, but we can respectfully evaluate what went wrong and learn from it. A stakeholder and an economist look back at an arts policy where the evaluation was buried. Read More
Open source human services weaves a new way forward
What does "open source human services" mean? Nicholas Gruen and Chris Vanstone explain The Australian Centre for Social Innovation's new Weavers project. Read More
Census boycott would hurt public policymaking across government
Privacy concerns around next Tuesday's Census have led to calls for a boycott. Partial or false data risks interrupting records on everything from inequality to child health and a misallocation of resources. Read More
Nicholas Gruen: why Australia needs an evaluator-general
PART TWO: Make evaluation a formal function of a new office, akin to the auditor-general, argues economist Nicholas Gruen. It furthers the principles of Westminster and restores credibility to evidence-based policymaking. Read More
Why we accept travesties of ‘evidence-based’ policymaking
Evidence-based policy ... if everyone claims to want it, and practice it, why do so many 'announceables' get glowing report cards without the slightest tinkering? Nicholas Gruen on the problems with policy evaluation. Read More